NaNoWriMo looms. My outline has taken shape. The terrain of a new world sprawls before me, rife with civilization. Characters chatter, love and battle in my head. If you’re like me, that first draft is a molten caldron, uncontainable and ready to erupt. I can’t hold myself back anymore.
A first draft is a flawed, untamed, tainted, wonderful, intense piece of art. Before I started using the volcano metaphor, I likened it to vomiting, spilling my guts over the keyboard. Disgusting, but so cathartic.
A first draft has nothing to do with perfection. It’s about the story. It isn’t the time to edit, to labor over weak verbs, revisit dialog, or craft flowing descriptions. You’ve spent weeks fleshing out your outline; it’s time to put it to work and start spinning your tale.
A few sections of that first draft will feel inspired and flow from your fingertips. Other parts will require patience and will-power as you drag them like whining teenagers across your page. Your outline will help you persist through those hair-pulling hours, because with an outline, there’s no writer’s block. No matter how painful, you know what you have to do.
Get the story out of your skin. Just write it. That’s the point of the first draft–the story. Your outline is your guide, but remember that a creative outline is still fluid; expect it to morph, flex and grow as you write.
My first draft is a constant play between an evolving outline and the written page. My characters continue to surprise me, plots deepen, new scenes appear, dialog ripples off in unexpected directions. I have to go back and add or change scenes, hint at backstory, place the sword on the belt. This isn’t editing–this is getting a story down on paper. At the very same time, I am massaging my outline, changing what is coming based on these unforeseen tangles and turns. I’m deleting and adding, noting follow-up details, tying up loose ends, and making certain that the story is still rational and cohesive when I get to the end.
This marvelous, messy, raw creation is your own foray into new territory. I never share my first drafts with anyone. They’re too ugly. They’re warty little trolls blinking in the sunlight. They need baths and haircuts, a visit to the dentist, and a decent meal. But I love them, and they are princes when I get them cleaned up.
Artwork compliments of creative commons: en.wikimedia.org, flickr.com and pixaby.com.
Myths of the Mirror 
Diana I doubt you’ve written any toads but your question is so interesting and thoughtful. I once started a book in 2013, a poorly disguised biography, I don’t think looking back that other things that I read had any influence in me, perhaps because the book was based on fact not fiction. If you’re wondering what happened to the book, it’s stuck in “revise” at Bookrix. ♥️
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One person mentions that music is her muse when writing poetry, and I notice that you occasional mention the inspiration for your poems., another poet or something happening in life. Sort of the same with books. I know what I want to write and gather the influences I need around me. 🙂 And your book? Your prose is as gorgeous as your poetry.
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We are influenced by music, my friend always write to music . He was a synastethe . My book is in limbo. I will return to it some day 😊
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Reblogged this on WILDsound Writing and Film Festival Review.
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Thanks for the reblog 🙂
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“They’re warty little trolls blinking in the sunlight.” — love this line.
Another great post. Couldn’t agree more! Hope there is more flow in your first draft, and less of those whiny erratic teenagers..
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Thanks, Brian. Unfortunately every morning they’re teenagers and don’t want to get up. Then they get going and won’t go to bed at the end of them days! Thanks for the visit 🙂
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I adore the way you describe a first draft. Warty and ugly made me laugh out loud – my first drafts definitely need baths and hair cuts! This tickled me pink. Great post
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Thanks, Sacha. Hopefully the little ugly ducklings grow up into swans 🙂 Have a great week!
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I just love how you describe the beauty of this first creation. I’m looking forward to my new writing! You make me want to start now but I think I can wait one more week
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Ha ha. It’s exciting isn’t it. I can’t believe how revved up I am for this. I think it’s because so many of us are participating. It makes it feel like a group effort! I’ll be cheering you on. 🙂
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Right back atcha, thank you
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I really enjoyed reading about your thought processes. Lovely photos of artwork to capture your story, too. Super post! 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by, Robin. I get to try it out in November. Hopefully, I’ll live up to my own advice! 😀
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Amazing post! I’m also participating in NaNo but I don’t have the outline done as of now. I guess I’ll be spending next week outline my story.
I agree with you on “A first draft has nothing to do with perfection. It’s about the story.” I’ll be writing mine this NaNo so hopefully I’ll get to the much coveted 50K 🙂
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Great luck to you, Heena. Many people don’t write with an outline, but I find them extremely helpful. If you’d like to buddy up, my nano username is D. Wallace Peach 🙂 Enjoy your November!
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Thanks a ton! To you too 🙂
Just added you on NaNo… Looking forward to know more about your amazing book 🙂
Have a great day!
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I need four more of me. I have so many books I want to write, but I have to focus (if you can call it that) on one thing at a time. Right now, it’s the current book and “my kids” (the ones I mentor). The problem is that I want to be everything: world traveler, dancer, circus performer (no really), you name it.
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Me too, Erik. Seriously! Our lives are too short to do them all, so we have to choose well, live every moment to the fullest, do what matters, and embrace love…and a whole lot of other stuff 🙂
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That style of artwork always reminds me of The Dark Crystal. 🙂
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One of my favorites. I own it on DVD. 🙂
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They do a bit to me too. But these are softer, I think. I love the artwork. I was so happy to find it 🙂
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Diana, I don’t comment much, but I have other writer friends that participate in this event. Kudos to you! Very great post on the beginnings of your journey!
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Thank you so much for the visit. I was just over there trying to learn the ropes. Very excited. 🙂
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I love the description of your first drafts as “warty little trolls,” Diana. I’m just glad it doesn’t take as much time to go through labor to give birth to a baby as to a book. I’ve been lazy about finishing my first draft and have to get back to it. It’s my memories until age 18, and no one remembers but me. Good piece. 🙂
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Thanks for the comment, Suzanne. Don’t let your poor little first draft languish. When you’re motivated give it a little TLC; hopefully it will give you the boost to finish it 🙂
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Suzanne, get to it! No one will have the joy of remembering “but you” unless you hand that thing over!
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You make it sound so exciting! I find the first draft of anything can be challenging and so tempting just to trash everything. I love those images. All the best with your writing
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I do find it exciting, Cat. It’s like going on a long-planned adventure to a place I’ve never been before. At the same time, there are parts of it that are truly grueling and I have to banish the inner critic who keeps nagging in my ear. 🙂 Thanks for the visit!
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… and your excitement shines through and that inner critic is often a friend in disguise 🙂
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Cat, what part of initial draft writing do you find most frustrating? Maybe people here can offer some perspective that will help.
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Just the same old confidence issues and not knowing “the rules” it’s impossible to judge my own writing
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Truthfully, Cat, it’s impossible for any of us to objectively judge our own writing. Writing is an art, and like anything requiring practice, you get better, learn the ropes, and start seeing constructive feedback as the gift that helps you grow. For me, it still feels like jumping off the high dive every time I hit the publish button. 🙂
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I can quite believe that, D.
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Hi Diana,
Love your creative description of the first draft and the pictures are amazing! I wonder where did you get them and how much time you must have devoted to find the relevant ones. Superb!
It is quite inspiring too when you say that when the first draft is ready, “it will help you persist through those hair-pulling hours, because with an outline, there’s no writer’s block.” You are so right.
Thanks for sharing that ‘warty creature’s’ outline, I know your ‘prince’ would be absolutely handsome!
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Thanks, Balroop. I found all the pics using creative commons searches. Most are en.wikimedia. I fell in love with them. Thanks so much for reading and sharing your thoughts. 🙂
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Wow…love your creative description of a first draft! Kind of a first draft mini-story in itself! Going to follow along with the structure of writing a book draft in November, only chapter by chapter. As a co-author, I’m writing someone else’s story and wait for the stories to come in by e-mail. It’s a slow go, but I’ll keep up the pace to get as far as I can. Good luck with yours! Chryssa
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Thanks, Chryssa. That sounds challenging – writing someone else’s story. I imagine the process is different in quite a few ways as you’re trying to be true to another’s experience and voice. Interesting. It sounded like your doing NaNoWriMo? If so, great luck to you. I’m definitely looking forward to it 🙂
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Quite a challenge! I do know the characters well though. Not pressuring to actually do NaNoWriMo, but pushing the word count up without careful editing, etc. A different mind set! Chryssa
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Best to you in that, Chryssa. I don’t think I have the constitution to ever co-write!
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Thank you for sharing your process. As someone who still dreams of writing a book someday, this is very helpful.
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It’s great fun, Pam. Don’t be intimidated if your heart says, “do it!”
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I did NaNo last year and it kicked the hell outta me. Good luck on your frenetic first draft quest, my friend!
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I shall try my best. It’s going to be a challenge as I’m a ssslloooow writer.
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Oh, gosh, Diana – if you’re “slow,” most people are dead!
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This should be the header for NaNoWriMo! Excellent way of describing the painstaking task of writing a rough draft. I am looking forward to the challenge as well. Good luck with your novel!
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Yay. You’re doing it as well? Awesome Michelle. If I can figure out how in the heck to add buddies on the Nano site, I’ll find you. I’m signed up under D. Wallace Peach (very original). Good luck to you as well.
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Thanks! I’m signed up as HerWritingHaven. I haven’t figured out how to do that yet either. Have to check on that later today.
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I even looked for a tutorial online and couldn’t find anything helpful. If you happen to figure it out, will you let me know? I’m so bad at this stuff, Michelle. dwallacepeach@gmail.com
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I will definitely let you know and try to find out myself! 😉
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I tried this and I couldn’t find you. Maybe you can find me? HerWritingHaven
To add a writing buddy on the NaNoWriMo site, go to the profile of the person you’d like to buddy and click on the “Add as Buddy” button to the right of the username.
Finding a buddy’s profile can be a bit tricky! If you meet someone in the forums, you can click on their username to reach their profile page. If you’re using our search function, be sure to use the exact username you’re searching for; if it’s even a little off, our search functionality won’t find it.
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I don’t know how to get to the profiles. There’s no button anywhere 😦 They don’t make this easy.
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You just have to type my name in the search box.
🙂
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Okay. I tried that and didn’t get any result. I’ll try again tomorrow. Thanks, Michelle. ❤
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“My first draft is a constant play between an evolving outline and the written page.”—That and everything else you wrote defines my process as well. Perfectly stated. I feel a bit frenzied in the first draft stage. I actually prefer the stages that follow. By the time I get to the second draft, I feel like I can sit back and take a breath. Then again, it’s never as exciting as writing the first draft either, so there’s that. But once things get more polished, that excitement starts to come back.
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We are the same sides of a coin, Carrie. I do the exact same dance between evolving outline and written page. And I totally agree about the huge breath when the first draft is done. Though I love the excitement, I enjoy the later drafts better (that is, until I’m reading the darn thing backward for typos). 😀
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Agreed! That reading backward stinks. And I STILL find errors on the next go through. Grrr.
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Always. I swear, there’s dark magic at play.
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Yes, dark magic, that must be it!
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Gremlins
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Reblogged this on mira prabhu and commented:
I rewrote my first novel – Whip of the Wild God: A Novel of Tantra in Ancient India – about seven times in 20 years…now here’s D. Wallace Peach’s marvelous post about the joys of getting that first draft done…
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Thanks for the reblog, Mira. ❤
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Beautiful illustrations and this is a mini story itself – the art of creation. Messy, rough but inspired and full of vitality. Whilst not officially taking part in NaNoWriMo I’m going to be working like crazy to finish my first draft. I’ve been re-reading, outlining and finding huge gaps between chapters as the story digressed elsewhere. I don’t need to write 50,000 to finish so don’t think I qualify for the NaNoWriMo. Good luck with your project – trolls and all!😀
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Thanks, Annika. Great luck with finishing your first draft. You can do the unofficial NaNoWriMo and hopefully crank it out. I love that feeling when the first draft is done, even though there’s still so much to do. The pressure eases considerably. 🙂
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The first draft bursting from a volcano is a great piece of descriptive writing. Thanks for the lesson on first drafts.
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Glad you liked it. I’ve become a little more deliberate in my writing lately, so it’s a good reminder for me 🙂
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“They need baths and haircuts, a visit to the dentist, and a decent meal. “…fabulous description. ☺
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Ha ha. Yeah. My first drafts are little trolls. 😀
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The pictures you chose and the description of your first draft left me singing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOGKltmWYTM
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Great clip. The Overlord loves Frozen songs. Before he was even two, he sang “Let it Go” with his parents. All three of them are very dramatic. 😀
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Live out loud, I say.
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I am amped up for NaNoWriMo! The story I will be working on requires some research on my part so I am trying to get that all done before the 1st of November comes! I am also having fun getting to know a whole new cast of characters since the book I will be working on is a fresh one that I came up with about a week ago (so I definitely have some research to do lol) 🙂 Great post as always!
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I’m getting ready too and equally amped! Yay! I’m a very slow writer at the beginning of a book, so I’m getting some of that out of the way now. I should be in the groove by November and will try to keep up with the word count…yikes. Good luck with your research.
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This is all very well, but what happens when your first draft is a river, but you were supposed to be making a fish pond? I’m in the middle of a genre-switch at the moment, and I don’t mind telling you, it’s making me twitchy.
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Ha ha. The life of a writer, Tara. Despite my “let that first draft flow,” I’m an outliner. The pond stays a pond, but the boundaries, depth, and wildlife are all subject to change. I actually love it that your book is taking you for a wild ride down the river; how exciting is that! But a genre switch mid-course? No wonder you’re twitchy. What are you switching from and to?
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Well, if I knew that, this boat wouldn’t be leaking. But I don’t and it is, hence the twitch.
Clear as mud, eh? Told you! Fish pond!
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Well, I’m going to read it whatever it is. 🙂
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Them’s fightin’ words! Haha! I will endeavour to rise to the challenge, then, and churn out something which won’t warrant chucking overboard… 😀
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Though your dialog with Diana seems to say you don’t know what the new genre will be, I wonder … why did you decide it needed a change?
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Hi, Erik. A combination of a feeling in my bones, and feedback from an agent. To cut a long story short, the genre it was wouldn’t be what people expected and didn’t suit my style. It’s an odd thing to do, but I feel better for it!
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You might post about that process sometime, Tara. I’m intrigued 😉
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I’m intrigued myself to see how it works out, so you never know!
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“A first draft is a flawed, untamed, tainted, wonderful, intense piece of art.”
What a perfect description! I struggled in my writing, until I was advised to write first and edit later. Once I allowed my writing to be tainted and untamed for a time, the words flowed much easier. I may need to pin this quote above my desk. That first stage of messy but wonderful, is such an important part of the writing process.
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Thanks, Jed. I have to remind myself every once in a while to let go and pour the story out. I stuff the inner critic in a jar and leave him on the back deck so the muse has my undivided attention. 🙂
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So did you pin it, Jed?
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Wonderful art! 🙂
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Isn’t it great. It seems I hit the jackpot with these.
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Definitely!
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They are adorable! Great work. Good luck.
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Thanks! One of the best things about writing fantasy is the great graphics I get to search out. These area public domain. I nearly fell out of my chair when I found them.
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